Howdy-hey, guys and gals. Your friendly neighborhood Satomato here!

As some of you may know, I'm a 2nd year Screenwriting student out here in Chicago. My semester project is to write a 90-page feature script so that when I graduate from these hallowed halls, I have something originally created on hand, you know. In case Steven Spielberg meets me in an elevator, or something.

I think I'll keep the finer details of the plot to myself for now (gasp, moan!) but I do need your help!

The setting is high school. I'm two years out of high school, so the daily idiosyncrasies, hypocrisies, joys, trials, triumphs, frustrations are a bit faded. I'm looking for you guys to tell me a bit about your high school - the experience, the people, everything.

For instance, where was the favorite place you and your friends sat? Was there a school function that was cool and unique that you did every year? How big was your school? Did you have a good relationship with your teachers?

Focus more on concrete details so I can put myself in this situation. If you had a giant, epic rally, what were the colors I'd see there? What were some of the chants you'd use?

Don't worry if high school wasn't/isn't "special." The mediocre is what I'm striving for here, truly. It's in those moments that character is revealed, which is why I need help discovering what's normal for other people.

What were the people like? Did they all look the same; wearing the same clothes and such? Were there some people who you wrote off as one thing, but then happened to get to know, and then changed another?

Any crazy stories about being kicked out the library, odd janitors, stuff like that?

What's some of the bad stuff, too? I'm writing this to be a large public high school - I went to a small, Christian high school so I'm well aware that I need to learn more about the other end of the spectrum.

I'm not looking for names. I'm just looking for the feel of things. The environment. What you remember most. :

Give me enough flavor of the place, the people, your personal growth, and of the actual physical space so that I can pick and choose pieces and get this "Cedar Springs North" in my head feel more real.

Hopefully this was clear enough. Let me do a brief little example from my own high school:

We were small, only 400 kids or so - but the vast majority of them were blonde and blue-eyed. Good, Dutch, Christian Reformed community and all! My generation were the last few siblings in large families - so when I was a freshman, a lot of my friends had two or three siblings in grades higher than us.

The school was shaped like a giant square, with legs sticking out at random angles. One of those "legs" was dubbed the Freshman Hall, because that's where all the freshmen would sit. The annoying thing was that they sat with their backs against the wall, but their legs out straight; the hall narrowed there, so if you had your locker in that area, you had literally about twelve inches of space between feet.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were hot lunch days so we had break a bit longer. Those were also the days that we had "Senior Eat-Out", which was when the seniors could go off-campus to get their meal, which was nice, because there was a large mall nearby.

My community was upper middle class, without a doubt. Other kids attended my high school from the less wealthy parts of town, and you could always tell because they didn't have the right shoes, the name brand, that sort of thing. The neighborhoods right around my school were the sort of Cul-De-Sac on a manmade lake, green grass and houses with multiple stalls and a car for everyone in the family.

The teachers were amazing. They really cared for the students, and got involved with praying for them, and making sure things were okay in their lives. We were a small enough community for that.

I don't mean to paint the "perfect" little picture of a Christian school. It was horribly frustrating to have to listen to students trash each other in the hallway, the locker room, and then see those same people in front of chapel (Tuesday and Thursday morning) leading everyone in worship.

We were the Squires. Green and gold, baby.

We had cinnamon roll sales sometimes. The classrooms were relatively small, but packed full with desks and fun bulletin boards and whatnot. The lockers were this ugly sort of khaki green, and it became a game to see how hard you could slam them shut.

I was in band. We were amazing. We had the best band teacher. I remember one night after a concert he was driving the band stands back to school in a trailer, and it spilled open. A few students saw and helped him, but for the rest of my high school career some of the stands we used were all bent.

At my school, it was considered "cool" to be in Symphonic band. Orchestra and Choir were alright, but you were elite if your were in Symphonic band. Our uniforms were annoying, though, but it was better than the Orchestra girls who had to wear these shapeless black dresses. xD

We didn't have a football field, but we had a football field. We had to use the public middle school's field. We also didn't have a pool for our swimmers, or a theater for our plays. But we made do.

It was a tiny school, but it really prepared me to be the person I am today.

I'll end there, but this is the sort of inspiration I need for this feature.

So go ahead! Whether you have good memories, bad, I just need to hear them - with your permission, of course.

Thanks a ton!

Hmm, well, it was a fairly large school, maybe about 1000 kids when I started in grade 9, but there was a new subdivision finished a year later, so by the time I left it had about 1200 and a whole bunch of those terrible, outdoor portable classrooms. Everyone tended to dress on the up and up (it was a fairly well-to-do area). Some of the richer kids had pretty fancy cars (the one that comes to mind was a mint green t-bird *drool*), mostly everyone had an iphone. There was a lot of Hollister and American Eagle clothing, and then the kids that either didn't like that style or wouldn't know style if it kicked them in the nuts.

There were three levels, with one long, tall hallway going down the centre that had skylights. There was also a carpeted pit area near the one entrance. There were even fake trees in the big hall, which led to all the other schools in our area calling us "the shopping mall". People were pretty good, there was no evidence of mass bullying or incredibly crazy stuff going on day-to-day. I mostly hung out with my friends in the hallway by our lockers. We kind of took over the area and the hallway was so small that we often had to move our legs, or people had to jump over us to get by.

The teachers I had were pretty great. One taught me English in grade 10 and Philosophy in grade 12. He was this tall, old guy with an incredibly deep voice, and the most dry, sarcastic sense of humour you'd ever hear. I remember one time he came up to me and said, "Those are the second worst pants I've ever seen." Me, being an idiot, played right into his hands, "What's the first?" I asked. "The ones you wore yesterday," He replied, stone faced, before walking away.

Another teacher taught me English and Media Studies. He was the one I liked the most, probably because we both enjoyed concerts, metal, talking about tattoos and were quite passionate about reading and writing. He looked out for me when I went through some rough patches, and was always understanding. He played in a band, but wouldn't tell me it's name until I graduated, because it was stoner rock and he didn't want to get in trouble for "influencing young minds".

There was also the librarian, who taught me computers way back in grade 9. Whenever he saw me, he'd greet me like so: "<first name> Macleod of the clan MacLeod! How are you highlander?" He and I also got along really well because whenever I started running out of space for my books at home, I'd donate them to the library. It got to the point that they'd never charge me late fees because I'd given them so much.

Everyone tried to avoid the rallies, we didn't have much school spirit cause our sports teams sucked. Our mascot was the "Trailblazer", and looked kind of like a shaggy, bright blue and green hippo.

As for specific people, there were certainly a bunch of characters. One boy and I absolutely hated each other for three years, and then got over it in the final grade. The first time I actually remember talking to him in a completely friendly manner was when he came up to me in the library one day saying, "Hey, do you want to buy some weed?" And flashed the baggy right there in the middle of the whole place. I also once purchased weed in class, with the guy I was buying from sneaking back while the teacher's head was turned and handing me the bag. I don't know how we didn't get caught.

As for notable events, one year in summer school someone got stabbed with a barbecue fork over a pack of cigarettes. There was the occasional bomb or gun threat. There was the monthly rout of the stoners from the bleachers by the baseball diamond (which was totally worth watching because our Vice President would personally chase them all down). There were often unauthorized messages over the P.A. system. For a graduate prank someone left crickets in the administrative office. Someone also inscribed a large penis on the hill by our football field using fertilizer. It stayed there for a whole season.

It's funny how four years boils down into so little. There are other bits and pieces, like the time I broke down sobbing during a music exam (and got exempted), or when some of the more rambunctious kids decided to lay siege upon the local corner store by flooding it with people, so as to rob them blind, or when a kid was put into a coma because he got tackled so hard playing football.

There was my friends, most of whom I would never have become close to if I hadn't decided that one day, I was sick and tired of being ditched by my current friend, and went to sit with them. It was never much of a "clique", just my friends (most of whom had know each other for years before), some secondary friends, and the rest of the school. I joined the GSA when it was newly formed, and was technically the only female student on it since the only other people were my best friend (gay dude) and the other was a ftm transgender.

So all in all, highschool wasn't that bad. Due to stuff going on at home, and my natural lust for independence, I wanted to be out of there as soon as possible, but it was never because the actual school part (or the people therein) were unpleasant.

I hope that's enough.

I went high school in a very small place. It was a small town school lots of school spirit, lol. Our colors were blue and gold; we always had events going on. We had two entrances to our school the office doors and the cafeteria doors. Our school on had two floors and the class on the bottom was shop class and that was the only class there, it had a garage so that kids could work on the cars and what-not. Through out our hallways we had pictures painted on the walls, some for certain themed clubs and the rest to support school spirit. Our school mascot is the wildcat.

Every time we had homecoming games we always had a spirit week where we would do all sorts of crazy themed days. One time we had wacky day and my friend dressed as a clown to scare the football quarter back. It was hilarious he was like "Get away from me freak" but now they are like brother and sister, funny stuff. We had all sorts of classes from chemistry to drama/speech classes. My favorite class was music class. We always had concerts, spring and winter ones, that was about it. We also had EMO concert were all the choirs in the eastern Missouri district came together and sung as one big choir for their families and friends. Each was a new experience.

I remember one year I had a solo and it was a very soulful solo and afterward my friend Doug like "Can we get an Amen for Shawna (My real name)", lol. And before we performed he did a pep speech like a preacher. He was always a riot to be around. Then during lunch time me and my friends always sat on the third to last table. My most important friends sat at the beginning of the table and then least important sat at the end of the table. Of course I liked all my friends equally just some I spent more time with than others. My best friends sat right next to me at all times.

My school had white walls through out the school and in the gym it had flags hanging up of school we defeated in certain sports at different times. The floor was blue and gold. We always held our dances there. Homecoming dance and there was another dance held I just forgot what it was and then Prom. Which was the biggest dance to attend of course I only went during my junior year and skipped my senior dance. Well that is some of my school experiences and what my school looks like hopes its helpful.

Highschool was, for me, a long succession of experiences I didn't want to be having, in places I didn't want to be, mostly surrounded by people I didn't really want to be near. I had taken a sabbatical from a constant reading habit after real-life punched me in the face; my mom's boyfriend had pissed off someone enough that they torched my home in the night, destroying my most valuable possession, a bookcase.

I entered highschool a few months later, and the sense of fear and loathing was overpowering (it wasn't until my senior year that I picked up some Hunter S. Thompson and Nietzsche, and realized that it was perfectly normal to be afraid of and disgusted by everything.) Places are boring, so I'll recall a few people among that pastiche, who were so exaggerated that one couldn't do anything but notice them. I won't use real names.

Ryan wanted to be a Navy SEAL more than anything, and in grade 11, he was squat and massive. In the small weight room sequestered off the main gymnasium, he had special custom bars brought in so he could benchpress without damaging the equipment. I heard he was lifting something over five-hundred-thirty pounds. Ryan would occasionally sneak up on me, and grab me with one of his sausage arms and sling me over his shoulder and whirl around. I suppose, I might call him a friend, but we never really talked on any common wavelength. He was a friend in the tradition of Tigger pouncing on Eeyore. I was a bit disappointed, really, when once he sneaked up on me and I flung my arms wide in surprise and jammed him in the eye and his eye started bleeding. He never did it again after that.

There was a girl, Meredith, who wore the ugliest wigs and had the least articulate fashion sense I've ever seen. I suppose she was making up in personality what she lacked in charm and grades (she always finished exams first, usually three or four minutes in). I avoided looking at her whenever possible, but if I had to re-do highschool, I'd probably at least talk to her once. I didn't treat her poorly, but I didn't exactly stop anyone else from doing that.

A bunch of guys who went to the same junior high school massed around the North lockers. They let me come and go, but ten years after graduation, I'm not friends with any of them. They'd invite me to some parties. The ones I respected most were Paulo and Kareem, who both were silent most of the time. I suppose that's where I fit in with that group. I didn't press for acceptance, and just assumed that they'd have my back.

The school cop caught me and Kareem once, drinking behind the swimming pool. There's a certain etiquette to drinking: don't get caught. So we were stupid, and completely ignorant of strategy, and that's it. The cop thought we were smoking by the way we kind of avoided him, but when he didn't see anything in our hands, he searched our coats. It cost me ten hours in the auto garage, spraying the greasy floors with water, while singing at the top of my lungs. Some junior walked in during a crescendo, if I recall correctly. "Mama mia! Mama mia! Mama mia! Let me go!" He just smiled, and I kept singing.

My highschool was pretty big- North Central, home of the Indians. Red and black were our theme colors, and everywhere you looked it was shiney, and bright. At least, where the parents could readily see. It was huge, as well, spanning one main building with three floors, an outside building with two floors, and another part, called the annex, which were several little portables placed outside by the tennis courts and a crossed the track and field thing.

On the flip side, all the students knew it as a horrible, run down place. Whispers about how much it was hated were always flying out of people’s mouth, unless of course you were an AP student, in honors, or a sports person. Then you were lucky- you got the good teachers, the ones who cared, or the ones who would at least attempt to pretend to care. Mostly though, the classrooms were loud, obnoxious. Most people didn’t care, and the teachers didn’t care about making the students care.
A lot of groups were formed in that school, though it’s not as bad as a lot of people would expect. Popular kids, the cheerleaders and the like, were actually some of the best people to know. They were genuinely nice, if you neded them to be, although they hardly ever really split from their group. The football players were Class A assholes, and still are, though they got to know a lot of people. The main groups had to be the kids who mostly would be considered ‘outcasts’, except, they outcasted themselves. It was a fun group. Loud, multipule colors, shitty music, cusswords. Lots of fun.

The main thing I know, and remember, about my highschool experience was that when you’re out of the group, even for a little bit, then you’re out andi t’s hard to weasel back in. I went to four different highschools over the years, and the main one is the one I kept returning to (North Central). It was also the biggest out of them all, had the most issues, and was perhaps the least fun out of all of them, with a low graduation rate. Most of the people there skipped school, with large groups of friends, and you’d never get caught.
It was actually pretty sad. =(

I've had three experiences of 'high school' (read: secondary school + sixth form here in the UK)

The first experience was in my first year. Basically it sucked. I had two friends I brought with me from primary school, disliked most of the teachers and generally didn't fit in. I ended up in the doghouse with the head of year because I disliked the school so much and it came out in the way I acted. I spent most of my breaks in the locker room or library reading.

Then I moved school, and things instantly became better. I was shown around the school by a kind-of-awkward but nice enough fellow student, and fell in with his friend group, where I fitted in perfectly well. I used to be the class clown a bit in primary, but I guess I grew up a bit, because I was basically a goodie two shoes. Of course there was that one mob of kids that don't really like you if you're different (read: smart) but thankfully my new Catholic School was tame enough that one of the most annoying jibes was 'Harry Potter', and now that I think back, hey - Daniel Radcliffe has fangirls, that wasn't an insult!

Normality is the theme as I slid through phases of confusion (it was around two years into this school that I realised I was gay and that just turned things on their head!) and varying periods of melodramatic teenage romance angst, combined with breezing through all my subjects (apart from languages, that sucked) with little effort. I had a solid group of friends for the entirety of my school life, and there were about eight of us who hung out like ALL THE TIME.

Sixth form, which is the last two years of your high school, was another step up. It was the end of compulsory education, so all the wankers who took it upon themselves to cause trouble all left, and the rest of the ones who had some issue with the school or the people in it left and went to another college. A-levels suddenly made work hard, but I wasn't doing any subjects I disliked any more, so it was ok! Most of my friends stayed on in the same school, and we chugged along merrily doing pretty much the same sort of stuff. Things were a lot more relaxed and free periods were a godsend (we got beanbags this year and OMG zzzz). The school is Catholic, as I said, so there's the interruption of liturgies and assemblies and religious aspects, but nobody shoves it down your throat. There are as many atheists as theists and most people are still trying to decide, and that's all fine by the staff and other students. It's a very tolerant place and I have very tolerant friends, and nobody burns anybody at the stake for anything (except bad grammar).

This year we've started turning eighteen and (since we're all good little angels who never dreamed of underage drinking) started getting drunk of a night out, which is fun. Uni applications are all swinging by and it's occasionally a little awkward being the only person in your group of friends who was totally happy with their results for the last year and prospects for this year, but nobody's bitter (openly at least!) even if their parents drop my name in arguments (true story).

So yeah. Not sure if that was specific enough or if I just rambled, but there you have it!

High school. Those very words mean something different to everyone.

I had quite a 'prep' upbringing. One of 'those' kids, I was basically spoon fed my way through high school, though by no means it was a dumb school. TJHSST, the current number one high school in the nation, filled with the best and the brightest. Go Colonials and all that jazz. We came here for the sports, obviously, being filled with nerds and geeks. But we had our fun. Most schools had pigs on elevators and cows for pranks. We coated a hallway in rubber and threw bouncy balls down it, made an air-cannon and launched this guy across a football field, safely of course.

However, the pressure was very intense. Every year, as finals rolled around, the laughing and jesting cut to zero, to be replaced with a very dark atmosphere. Every student there wanted to shine above their neighbour, and being a school of practical geniuses (genii?), tensions got quite high. You'd think a bunch of video gamers would be able to cool down, but nope. Here, the measure of your worth wasn't popularity, it was how far your science project went nationally and your GPA.

And don't even get me started on the music department. Can you imagine sticking about a hundred Asians in a room with instruments? Yeah. It was fantastic. Not to blow my own horn, or in this case, bow my own strings, but Concert Master of the top orchestra three years in a row. And the Pop concerts? Amazing. Mhmm. Anyways, yeah, high school was fun. Not much in the way of cliche drama, but lots of fun. Like all high schools, there was that layering of the 'cool kids', the 'losers', and you know, all that stuff. But most of the kids were too dedicated to their studies to really, at least outwardly, be bothering with social standings and whatnot.

Hope that suffices!

Oh, boy where to start, ok well my friends were all the total rejects freshman year, all 3 of us were total losers, my friend Andrew, well he just was just bad socially, but my friend Caleb on the other hand was total f***en s*** and 3/4 he was caught having a fap in band class, but at the end of sophomore year i was able to escape that part and move in with the anti- society nerds, it couldn't have been better! they told me of the glory's of WoW, and nerddom, and in my JR. year, i managed to even get a girl friend, how ever short. and now i'm half way through Sr year, that's my story.

My high school experience was twofold. The first year and a half wasn't too remarkable, except for a few things, but the rest...oh man.

Freshman year was off the hook mainly because I still had a few friends carry over from middle school, and our football team made it all the way to the state finals (I still have the commemorative towel). We even had a female running back pound the ball into paydirt from 1 yard out during homecoming. Having English class with the principal's daughter was...interesting, to say the least. Didn't help that she was quite attractive. I also had some surprisingly polished games on my old TI-83 Plus. Don't have the games anymore, but I still have the calculator. I also experimented with running track, with very little success.

Sophomore year, things began to heat up. We were in a very stressful period, getting ready to move, and my "rivalry" with my late father was in full swing, trading words and blows on a regular basis. Then, just before finals, we moved, and it was decided that I would start at a new school after their finals were over so I could have a fresh start in the second semester. As much as I tried to be invisible, somehow I managed to get a picture of me sneaked into the school yearbook, I had found myself drafted into an extracurricular activity in Quiz Bowl coached by my chemistry teacher, and by the end of the year I was on the first team. (However, the caption in said yearbook took me for someone else.) Getting a 208 on my PSAT helped.

Junior year was when things started to look up. I was the only person in my graduating class in AP Calculus BC with all three of the seniors on the team sitting nearby. I also slapped together a poem for a late assignment that ended up in the school lit magazine...that was rather interesting. 9/11 happened early in the school year, and when the news broke in my fourth period Latin class by one of my teammates, the rest of the day was spent watching the news. The combination of fascination and sheer horror was EXACTLY like how everyone pictures watching a train wreck might be like. A couple of months later saw my team take home second place in a major tournament, along with an automatic state tournament bid. (Trivia: The night before, I had a very vivid dream involving our team winning.) Walking out of Calculus class with my teammates for the car ride to Lansing for the two-day event made me feel like such a fucking boss, even if we ended up getting eliminated due to a bent rule. Getting invited to a graduation party as a junior made me feel very special, especially because it was my partner from the bridge-building contest in Physics. Did I mention that I managed to appear in the school talent show with a recitation of a Monty Python skit?

Finally, senior year was when everything seemed to come together. People I didn't know knew my name. I successfully suggested an intramural Quiz Bowl tournament between the classes as part of the homecoming games, the football team went undefeated with five shutouts and advanced all the way to the state semifinals, I appeared in the intro video to the talent show that year (to much rejoicing) and we went back to the state tournament, advancing quite far in the loser's bracket. Working on the farm to fulfill the community service requirement for graduation, having my own radio show as part of Fundamentals Of Radio Broadcasting (I still have a cassette sitting around of my attempt at a 30-second promo), an intramural basketball league stint and standing under a tree to try to protect my gown and mortarboard from the torrential rainfall after graduation were just some of the other highlights.

Ugh high school....glad it's over...
I'll start with my Grade 9 experience in Bahrain. My application got delayed due to certain reasons so I wasn't able to go to the school where the people I knew attended. Luckily a newly opened international school was still accepting applications so I enrolled and got in but I still missed 2 weeks of class. I was a nervous wreck on my first day. I went to school early to get a feel of the place first before my "soon to be" classmates arrived. I didn't want to arrive in class when it was already filled with people who have no idea who I am; that would be like walking into a shark tank. Anyway, I chose a seat at the back and waited for people to arrive one by one. Then when the bell rang and everyone was there did I realize....I was the ONLY foreigner, or to be exact, Asian in my class. And WOW were the people snobby like crazy! The other frustrating part is that the school is an INTERNATIONAL school so the medium of conversation should be English but no. They still refused to speak in English so basically, I got isolated. At first I thought it was only because of the language barrier but I noticed that they seemed to be fine with the non Asian foreign students from other grades. Seriously, racism in the 21st century is just retarded! I met one good person in my class who is still one of my closest friends to this day though.

Luckily at the end of my first semester, my dad got transferred to Qatar so we moved there. Instead of continuing 9th grade in another school there, I decided to do some self study instead. Then on the next academic year, I took a qualifying exam for 12th grade and passed. So first day of 12th grade in a new school, I got a repeat of the grade 9 incident; I was the only foreigner again. And yes, the language issue was there again so I only attended that school for 2 days then my parents transferred me to another one. The school I transferred to is the last one I attended; I graduated high school there. That school started earlier than other schools so I was 2 weeks late for class again. Anyway, my experience in that school was ok-ish. Didn't really blend in with my classmates much. They sort of had their own click already(they've been classmates since elementary) so I never really felt part of the group. My close friend from that school is from a different grade. That person is also one of my best friends till now.
So technically, I never really had a "normal" high school experience. Wish I did though xDD

Well, not to repeat what's already been said, but I really wasn't interesting in being "popular." I'm glad I realized that it was kinda pointless by the 10th grade. So, my school experience might be called kinda boring: I rarely went to the parties or the dances. I could never really get to know people there anyway it seemed people were more interested in getting drunk than anything else. I did, however, find other ways to get involved. I joined a golf team and a debate team and had a blast. I really think that debate team taught me some valuable communication and critical thinking skills that I've been using ever since. I didn't know a whole lot of people, but the people that I did know I generally liked, and I was fine with that. :)

My highschool experience was fairly average. Because of stuff going on in my life at the time, I barely showed up. All I really remember of it was the fact it was the only time I could eat (our house was always bare of food), and sometimes I would show up just to get lunch for the day.

My school had a lot of cliques but there wasn't that much drama, to be honest. We had gotten that all out of our system in Middle School, so most of the time we'd just stick to our usual groups and not mingle much.

Just wanted to say - thank you guys all for this submission. It really has helped me flesh out the character for my screenplay. On top of that, I have a concrete image of the high school she's in, called Cedar Springs Central. I'll post excerpts from the feature script in the Writing subforum should anyone wish.

In any case, it's still interesting to hear these stories. Keep 'em coming!